Friday, August 14, 2015

The Moreau Quartet Vol 1 - S. Andrew Swann

The Moreau Quartet Vol 1

S. Andrew
Swann

DAW, Aug 4 2015, $8.99

ISBN: 9780756411251

“Forests of the Night.” Homo sapiens genetic engineering created two
subspecies: Moreaus and Frankensteins.
By 2053, Nohar Rajastan knows he is lower than the Franks who socially
rank beneath his fellow Moreaus because his state executed father led his
Special Forces tiger unit rebellion. The
son of a terrorist can only be self-employed doing crappy private
investigations rejected by everyone else.
Trying to collect his fee at a dive, Nohar escapes with his life, a
warning and no commission leaving behind three dead in Ohio (homage to Neil
Young). A Frank hires Nohar to learn who
killed a Pink, Congressman Binder’s campaign manager Daryl Johnson. The case turns ugly when law enforcement and
the drug selling gang who killed his previous deadbeat client target Nohar.

“Fearful Symmetries.” Over a decade and half later Nohar gave up
sleuthing, his human wife and the Midwest to reside in rural California as part
of a program to remove Moreaus from the cities; while his no longer deep yellow
Bengal stripes inform him death is coming soon.
A Los Angeles attorney represents a client willing to pay him 50K to
find a missing Moreau, Manuel, who vanished over a week ago. Nohar insists he is retired until assassins
arrive to kill him.

This omnibus is out of publication order as these
1990s releases are the first and fourth novels with the middle two (see Emperors of the Twilight and Specters of the
Dawn) to follow in Vol 2. These are fabulous
futuristic hard-boiled urban fantasies with deep looks at racism and genetic
engineering. Nohar remains a sensational
lead working the Asphalt Jungle (nod to John Huston, director) in which
survival of the deadliest is the universal law